Royal
Robotics
An FTC team from Hayward, California
About
Royal Robotics is a (soon to-be registered) FTC team in Hayward, California. Started in March of
2022 at Leadership Public Schools Hayward, we seek to build interest in STEM in our small
school and city and generally, have a good time with robotics! So, for the first time ever,
Leadership Public Schools has a robotics team!
We are the second FTC team in Hayward.
Although we are not yet official registered, we currently have a FTC kit from GoBilda (courtesy
of our school!) and a loaned RevRobotics Expansion Hub (courtesy of TechBrick from
Maryland!).
The robot we’re building. You gotta start somewhere! Image courtesy of GoBilda
Our Team
Our team is composed of 5 highly-motivated individuals! We’re all passionate about STEM, and
believe a more diverse population needs access to it. You can read more about us below!
Sahil Sharma
Andrew Tran
Hi everyone! I am a
rising junior at LPS
Hayward. I enjoy
competition math and
programming, and
anything STEM!
- Sahil Sharma
went to the same middle
school as sahil
same grade level as sahil
pretty much on the same level
as sahil
is in the track team, probably
faster than sahil because he
is not
- Andrew Tran
"Hello, my name is Jose Vera, I'm
part of the coding team building this
robot, but I usually give some advice
to the builders on where some parts
go, it was a rough start, but now
we're finally getting somewhere, and
slowly approaching the part to be
able to code the moving functions for
the robot, our team may be small at
the moment but we are looking
forward to getting more people to
join us in our journey"
- Jose Vera
Jose Vera
Gallery
Assorted pictures of our build! Stay tuned for more…
Blog
Our blog posts! Stay tuned for more…
How To Start an FTC Team
Sahil Sharma, June 9th 2022
Starting an FTC team can seem like a daunting task. And it often is. Kits are expensive,
fundraising can seem foreign, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. We’ll share our story here,
in hopes that it will help others.
Perhaps the most important thing is to first take a look at FIRST’s website:
https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc/start-a-team
Again, it’s understandable that all the information can feel overwhelming! The first thing
you must do is find interested people! Having people to support and help you will make this a
much easier operation. Try to form a small group with people you know well, as this allows
for better communication and lets you get started quicker.
After that, you’re going to want to look for grants to get registered. This brings us to a
different point, ensure you start near the beginning of the school year! This is when all
grants were available… If you start near the end of the year, like us, you’re going to need on
either you school to provide funding for a kit (as our school did), or you’ll have to
fundraise!Perhaps you can host a bake sale or some school event! Remember, schools
sometimes have some allocated for STEM related activities, and don’t be afraid to ask them
for some funding!
Grant finder: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/team-grants
Currently, there is a rookie grant available. You’ll need a mentor / coach for your team to be
eligible for the grant. Typically, a mentor has robotics experience. However, this isn’t always
possible, so it’s also acceptable if your mentor is just a teacher you know well from your
school.
Now you have a mentor, a team, and hopefully some funding! The next step is to buy a kit…
If you search online, you should find one! We got ours from GoBilda, for 700 dollars. Note
that there are discounts if your team is based from a school, or if you officially registered
your team! Registering your team costs 250 dollars.
You’re also going to need a control computer, to get it started. A RevRobotics Expansion
Hub, plus two Android phones should work… Currently all Rev hubs are out of stock, so
you’ll need to be quick to purchase them with your funds when they come out.
This is basically how far along we are in the process. Once we finish building the kit, we’ll
update this guide with information on how to start programming and setting up the wiring.
Contact
Questions, comments, or concerns? Contact Sahil at:
hy.sharma.sahil@leadps.org
Thank you!